In a stylish black dress with a buttoned-up neckline, her dark hair pinned up, you might not recognize Caitriona Balfe as the star of the TV series “Outlander.” Get closer, though, and you will see the same almost mischievous smile as you do in her character.

Anyone who watched Ken Burns’ PBS documentary series “The Roosevelts: An Intimate History” recognized the familiar voice of Edward Herrmann as Franklin Roosevelt. The veteran actor also narrates the Burns-produced “Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies,” premiering Monday on PBS.

Hollywood and Scientology have often collided, but never quite as explosively as they do in “Going Clear,” the revealing documentary by Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney. The film, airing March 29 on HBO, is based on Lawrence Wright’s 2013 best-seller “Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood and the Prison of Belief,” which looks at the belief system founded by science fiction writer L.

Mad men, prophets, messiahs in the desert — television is turning its attention to religion in a dramatic way, and, undoubtedly, praying for ratings. National Geographic Channel’s “Killing Jesus” — based on the book by Fox News host Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard — which debuts Palm Sunday (March 29), takes a somewhat historic look at the life of the Christian Savior, with Lebanese actor Haaz Sleiman, a Muslim, in the title role.

If someone told Naomi Watts to lighten up, she apparently said OK. But she did it on her own terms. The actress who has nailed multiple shades of extreme trauma in the likes of “Mulholland Drive,” “The Ring,” “21 Grams,” “The Impossible” and many more has been going for laughs lately.

The scheduling guide for WonderCon 2015 has gone live and it looks like it’s going to be a TV watchers kind of convention. Cast and producers from Warner Bros. and DC’s “The Flash” and “iZOMBIE” TV series will be making an appearance at the Anaheim comic book and pop culture convention, as will Will Forte from FOX’s “The Last Man on Earth.

While there are very few new releases worth mentioning, this week includes three of the better films from the last holiday season. The fairy-tale mash-up “Into the Woods,” directed by Rob Marshall, is a worthy screen adaptation of the original Stephen Sondheim-James Lapine musical.

1776: 1972 film set during the American Revolution based on the 1969 Broadway musical comedy, starring William Daniels as John Adams and Ken Howard as Thomas Jefferson. 42nd Street: 1933 film starring Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell with choreography by Busby Berkeley.

Neither Ethan Hawke nor Seymour Bernstein knew much about each other when they were seated next to each other at a dinner party a few years ago, but they got on famously. Afterward, they Googled each other.

The power saws are buzzing and there is a beehive of activity on the new set of “The Late Late Show” inside CBS Television City in the Fairfax district of Los Angeles. On Monday, British entertainer James Corden is taking over hosting duties of the show.

Two things Theo James really likes: California and trying to tell the best story possible. The first itch is pretty easy to scratch. The outdoors-loving Englishman co-stars in one of the more successful young-adult movie franchises of the moment, the “Divergent” series, which means lots of work visits to Hollywood and extra days spent exploring the Golden State.

By the end of the week, Kyle Chandler should be lighting up a lot of television screens again. Known from his role as the tough but fair Coach Eric Taylor on the long-running Texas high-school football drama “Friday Night Lights,” the actor is returning to television in “Bloodline” starting March 20 when Netflix begins streaming all 13 episodes of the mystery.

There weren’t many gay characters on television when Ellen DeGeneres announced she was a lesbian in 1997. These days they are fairly common, proving one thing: It doesn’t matter your sexual orientation if the material isn’t there.

Let it go (on)! The Walt Disney Co. on Thursday announced plans to make a sequel to the animated mega-hit “Frozen.” Bob Iger, Walt Disney Co. chief executive, and John Lasseter, head of Walt Disney Animation Studios, joined in officially announcing “Frozen 2” at the company’s annual shareholders meeting in San Francisco.

“Star Wars: Episode VIII” will blast into theaters on May 26, 2017, Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger announced at a shareholder meeting Thursday. Rian Johnson, known for the innovative time travel film “Looper,” is confirmed to write and direct.

Compared to last year’s “Maleficent” and Stephen Sondheim’s subversive “Into the Woods,” or even Tim Burton’s weird 2010 film “Alice in Wonderland,” Disney’s latest live-action version of one of its classic fairy-tale cartoons is a pretty straightforward interpretation.

Fifty years ago, everyone from director Robert Wise to the extras on set knew they had a hit when they turned the long-running musical “The Sound of Music” into a film. But who could predict that a half-century later it would still be so beloved? A special anniversary five-disc Blu-ray of the true-life story of the musical von Trapp family, starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, is being released this week.

The target of this year’s DIY Convention: Do It Yourself in Film, Music and Books is what its managing director Bruce Haring calls an underserved group of creators. Hence the theme: “For Mature Audiences Only.

On the surface, the premise for Fox’s new comedy “The Last Man on Earth” seems thin, but it turns out to remarkably durable and funny, at least for the first two episodes. Created by and starring “Saturday Night Live” alumni Will Forte, it follows the wanderings of Phil Miller, the last survivor of an unknown plague that wiped out all of life on Earth in 2020.

The end of days always seems to be upon us — at least for certain believers and Hollywood, which seems to believe people will never grow tired of stories tied to Revelation, the final book of the Bible.

Timothy Hutton was so taken with the script for ABC’s taut new drama “American Crime” that he asked if he could meet with creator-writer John Ridley and producer Michael McDonald for 10 minutes the next day.

Leonard Nimoy, whose half-alien “Star Trek” character Mr. Spock was a pop culture icon, died in his Bel Air home Friday from complications of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The actor, director, writer, poet, photographer and recording artist was 83.

With the names Vince Gilligan and David Shore attached, you might have expected something heavier from “Battle Creek,” the new CBS cop show premiering Sunday. Gilligan is known for “Breaking Bad” and the current “Better Call Saul,” and Shore created “House.

Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen has loved Westerns since he was a kid — good guy vs. bad guy — but as he grew up he started to appreciate more complex visions. His favorite Western is Clint Eastwood’s 1992 Oscar winner “Unforgiven,” which he calls a masterpiece.

Get ready to return to Duckburg, children of the ‘90s, because a new “DuckTales” is heading to Disney XD. Disney Channel officials announced it will launch a reboot of te beloved animated adventure show in 2017, sparking nostalgia for many grown-ups who remember the feathered family of Uncle Scrooge and his nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie.

It might be deemed a success story if it didn’t come out of such horrible circumstances. Andrea Pino and Annie Clark hadn’t known each other as undergraduates at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Be careful what you wish for. That old axiom is at play early on in Season 3 of “House of Cards.” Fans who binge-watched the first two rounds of Netflix’s political thriller know by now that dastardly Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey), with the aid of wife Claire (Robin Wright), connived and backstabbed his way from Congress to the vice presidency to the Oval Office.

Margot Robbie comes off as the quintessential (Australian) girl next door. Pretty but approachable, smart yet unpretentious, good sense of humor and serious when she needs to be — it’s a totally charming, disarming package.

Zack Snyder revealed the first photo of Jason Momoa as Aquaman for the upcoming “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” film Thursday night. Polynesian tattoos, armor and some seriously dark tresses are featured in the photo.

When actress Tiffani Thiessen hosts a dinner party, she centers it around a playful theme. Game night. Pizza party. Girls night. “Maybe it’s my type A personality, but I love starting with a theme and then going from there,” says Thiessen, who shows how it’s done on her new show, “Dinner at Tiffani’s,” premiering 7 p.

In the midst of his second deployment, U.S. Navy Lt. Ricky Ryba realized that a dream he thought he’d left behind is still alive. “When you’re on a deployment at sea you’re with 400 sailors, but you’re by yourself,” said Ryba, a Studio City resident.

Women make up nearly 51 percent of the U.S. population and 40 percent of the workforce but constitute just 13.7 percent of the directors of the Directors Guild. They direct 14 percent of TV, less than 10 percent of all features and less than 5 percent of studio features.

Mae Whitman and Bella Thorne are curled up comfortably together on a large cushioned chair and ottoman. The young actresses have kicked off their shoes after a day of publicity for their new film, “The DUFF.